Helsinki, Finland; Frankfurt Airport, Germany; Toronto, Ontario; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Whitby, Ontario
Helsinki, Finland; Frankfurt Airport, Germany; Toronto, Ontario; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Whitby, Ontario
Hakaniemi Market: Fishmonger filets pike-perch (kasvatettu siika), as I requested a whitefish for soup tomorrow. She and a passing customer recommended against the hauki (pike) which has many small bones. The advice of a professional is preferred since I’m less proficient varieties of fish, particularly when they’re named in Finnish. (Ekströms Fiskebod, Hakaniemi Market, Helsinki, Finland) 20160201Post-lecture dinner: Warm hospitality following pattern of preparing dinner in AS’s kitchen, coming up to Chinese New Year. Old friends and new acquaintances numbered 13 around the table this time. Menu favourites included vegetarian ma po tofu and stick dried bean curd (foo jook) and reconstituted dried shitake mushrooms brought in suitcase from Toronto. Switched seats before dessert to talk to more people at the long table. (Töölö, Helsinki, Finland) 20160202Cafe Tin Tin Tango: Meeting venue popular with coffee up front, laundromat in the back. Fortunately, no clothes were being cleaned while we had our research discussion, so we could sit near a power outlet. Had kaneli pulla (cinnamon buns) with herbal teas. Wifi is available for free 30 minutes at a time, so camping out for the day is monitored by servers. Lavatory was practically Japanese in the economy of space. (Cafe Tin Tin Tango, Toolo, Helsinki, Finland) 20160203Local tax office: Arrived just before 4:15pm when doors are closed, while government employees continue serving visitors inside. Alternative to 35% withholding for non-residents to Finland is to get a tax card and be calculated on the progressive rate. When income is low, having a tax card could pre-empt having to file a tax return available only in the Finnish or Swedish language in the next year. (Vero Skatt, Fennia-kortteli, Helsinki, Finland) 20160203Museokatu laneway: Apartment windows look out over open parking behind five storey buildings with commercial businesses that face the street on the other side. View west doesn’t provide much sunlight, and dusk is relatively early at this northern latitude. Having a three-metre day, grading student work for tomorrow’s lecture. (Hellsten Parliament Apartments, Museokatu, Helsinki, Finland) 20160204Kiasma: Art is free on first Friday night of the month at the Kiasma. The exhibition of “Demonstrating Minds: Disagreements in Contemporary Art” may reflect the prevailing pessimistic mood in the country. The long slow ramp up to the second floor is a famous feature designed by architect Stephen Holl. (Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland) 20160205
Los Angeles, CA; Toronto, Ontario; Warsaw, Poland; Krakow, Poland; Niagara Falls; Washington, DC; Rosslyn, VA.
Sketinghuish 1, 2, 3. Installation by Sket One, in L.A. Heat exhibit, Chinese American Museum. Painting by Audrey Chan in background. (Olvera Street, Los Angeles) 20140703Barracks moved from Wyoming. Disassembled and reconstructed American concentration camp for Japanese from Heart Mountain Wyoming circa 1942, now at Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles) 20140703Flexing at Muscle Beach. Judging for Mr and Mrs Muscle Beach on Independence Day in Venice’ California 20140704Fitting hands at the Chinese Theatre. Sizing up to Samuel L. Jackson in concrete in front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Usual crowds, even on July 4.Usual pickup, Pearson Terminal 1. Even Adam says that the pattern of arriving so Pearson Airport, and being picked up by family is getting to be familiar. (Toronto) 20140705Warszawa Centralna. S3 train from Chopin Airport to Warsaw Centralna station sorry short but slow. Bought ticket for Krakow on Friday, office for English. (Warsaw, Poland) 20140716Farm north of Krakow. Train paused, horses not paying attention. Journey from Warsaw to Krakow shows lots of agriculture, and a few towns. Fighting key lag in compartment of 6 passengers. (Krakow) 20140718Barbican, Krakow. Touring historic sites in Krakow, noticing tight walkways and low headroom. Poland must have fewer lawyers, as simple warning signs of hazards suffice (Krakow) 20140719Desk at Schindler’s Factory. Enamel factory of WWII run by Oskar Schindler rebuilt into immersive museum of Krakow before and during war. Tough for Poles, tougher for Jews (Krakow) 20140720Jagiellonian U 600th Anniversary campus. Uni in Krakow dates back to 1394, but 25 minute tram ride to third campus not yet fully completed. Circular glass library fronts management and social communications school. HSSE meetings in AHFE conference (Krakow) 20140722Krakow airport construction. Reports of Krakow Terminal 1 as work in progress is accurate. Coming from a university campus due for completion in 2015, Polish economy seems healthy. Food and lodging seems cheaper than other European cities. (Krakow) 20140723Niagara Falls from the Rainbow Bridge. On a summer Friday morning, the Rainbow Bridge border crossing was the quickest, not to mention most scenic, way into the U.S. DY driving, so passenger shot out window while moving (Niagara Falls) 20140725Skylights, Library of Congress on Flickr. Ceiling to blue sky on Great Hall of the Library of Congress has lots of tourists continuing from Capitol Hill tour. Ties between public record and democratic ideals (Washington, DC) 20140726Key Bridge from Rosslyn on Flickr. Cloudy Sunday morning overlooking Potomac River into Washington DC. View from 9th floor hotel balcony, don’t see the joggers and cyclists that we saw yesterday, but we are an hour earlier (Rosslyn, VA) 20140727
Systemic Design track at ISSS. Lots of friends at #isss2014 session, says Peter Jones @redesign. @OCAD #sfi activities reviewed starting session on Systemics in the Design community. (Washington, DC) 20140731
For the November 2023 Systems Thinking Ontario session, historian and policy advisor Dr. Michael Bonner was invited for an interview by Zaid Khan. In organizing the sessions, we’re trying to avoid the trap of systems thinking becoming a discipline, through learning with a sweeping-in process. The session opened on a map of The Sassanid Empire […]
It the systems sciences are an open system, then learning more and more about systems of interest are foundational. This was called a sweep-in process by C. West Churchman, in the heritage of Edgar A. Singer. Jr. A concise definition is found in the entry on “Experimentalism” in the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics: […]
For the Relating Systems and Design RSD12 symposium on October 14, 2023, members of the Explainers subgroup of the Systems Changes Learning Circle conducted an in-person workshop on “Explaining Systems Changes Learning: Metaphors and translations” at OCADU in Toronto. RSD12 included both in-person sessions and online sessions. In the planning phase for the symposium, our […]
Judith Rosen agreed to give an online presentation for the Systems Thinking Ontario meeting in October 2023, after we converted her in-person meeting at OCADU in August into a discussion circle. Channelling the anticipatory systems approach of her father, mathematical biologist Robert Rosen, Judith has been extended those ideas in her own continuing observation of […]
An article related to the ISSS plenary talk of July 2022 has now passed the peer review process, and is published in early view for Systems Research and Behavioral Science. It should shortly be printed in the November issue of SRBS that serves as the General Systems Yearbook. Update on Nov. 22, 2023: A full-text, […]
In a return to original Systems Thinking Ontario format, we reviewed an (old) systems thinking paper from 1998. Mohammed Badrah served as reviewer. Kelly Okamura was the discussant. The author, David Hawk, was available during the discussion period for extended knowledge. As compared to prior Systems Thinking Ontario sessions with the word “entropy” in the […]
Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
For the @ArchFoundation, #TimIngold distinguishes outcome-oriented making from process-oriented growing, revisiting #MartinHeidegger “Building Dwelling Thinking”. Organisms are made; artefacts grow. The distinction seems obvious, until you stop to ask what assumptions it contains, about the inside and outside of things…Read more ›
The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]
How might the quality of an action research initiative be evaluated? — begin paste — We have linked our five validity criteria (outcome, process, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic) to the goals of action research. Most traditions of action research agree on the following goals: (a) the generation of new knowledge, (b) the achievement of action-oriented […]
After 90 minutes on phone and online chat with WesternUnion, the existence of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland is denied, so I can’t send money from Canada. TicinoTurismo should be unhappy. The IT developers at Western Union should be dissatisfied that customer support agents aren’t sending them legitimate bug reports I initially tried the […]
